There are many laundry additives available commercially that are preferably added to the laundry during the rinse period of an automatic clothes washing machine, whether because of the incompatability of the laundry additive with washing agents generally present in the wash period or cycle, or because of the beneficial efficiency of the laundry additive when introduced into the rinse cycle as opposed to the wash or spin cycle of an automatic washing machine. With the increase in the numbers and types of laundry additives available for use in washing clothes, a need has arisen for an effective device to automatically dispense such laundry additive materials at the proper interval of the cycle of an automatic clothes washing machine. Accordingly, a need has also arisen to provide such an apparatus that will dispense the laundry additive in a clean, effective and simple manner, thereby obviating any of the complicated devices and apparatus that have heretofore been proposed.
One of the types of dispensers for automatically introducing laundry additives into rinse water in automatic washers is a free-bodied dispenser disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,391, and in U.S. Pat. No. 2,956,709. The problems associated with these "free-body" type dispensers are that they are messy to fill, i.e., the particular laundry additive has to be manually handled, they are detached from the machine and therefore subject to getting lost, they are cumbersome to use, and subject to clogging; and in some cases they are limited only to the use of a laundry additive in liquid form.
Another type of dispenser is one that is built into the washing machine itself as part of the central agitating post wherein the top of the post is in the form of a cup to which a liquid laundry additive can be added. The centrifugal force obtained by the spin of the agitating post during the rinse cycle or spin cycle causes the liquid additive to emerge whereby the rinse water is enabled to flush out the additive into the laundry. Not only is this type of apparatus cumbersome, but it also causes exposure of the additives to the human hands, and tends to leave a residue in the aforementioned cup due to the lack of efficient flushing of the additive into the laundry. Moreover, this type of apparatus prohibits the use of solid additives which would not flow as evenly as a liquid type additive.
Another type of a built-in dispenser system utilizes a solenoid valve and a gravity feed. Again, it is difficult to dispense solids and any liquid material which has a tendency to gel, since it tends to clog the vlave or the tubing used. More importantly, however, all of the foregoing dispensers require frequent refilling (as often as every wash), which can be untidy and inconvenient, and requires intimate handling of materials which may be irritating to the skin, eyes, mucous membranes, and other parts of the body.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a laundry additive dispensing device that is disposible in nature and which will dispense the laundry additive in a simple and efficient manner during the rinse period of an automatic clothes washing machine.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a laundry additive dispensing apparatus that is responsive to centrifugal force for the dispensation of the laundry additive.
A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus that has the laundry additive sealed therein, thereby obviating any need for the handling of the additive which may be irritating to the skin, eyes, mucous membranes, or other parts of the body.
An additional object of the invention is to provide an apparatus that will dispense a laundry additive without any limitation as to the physical form the additive takes.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a laundry additive dispensing apparatus that can be easily retrieved and disposed of at the end of the entire laundry washing program.
It has now been discovered that the above and other objects of the present invention are accomplished by the provision of a disposable, single-use apparatus made of inexpensive materials that will effectively add a laundry additive during the spin or rinse period of an automatic washer having an upright central agitating post. Thus, the present invention is applicable for use in only those machines that have a central agitating post for the automatic deterging of washloads.
According to the invention herein, a disposable dispensing apparatus is provided for the dispensing or addition of a laundry additive during the rinse period of an automatic clothes washig machine having an upright central agitating post, comprising a sealed container, adaptable to being positioned onto the agitating post and having disposed therein said laundry additive, and a means for allowing the laundry additive to egress from said container by the centrifugal force exerted on the apparatus occasioned by the continuous rotational movement of the agitating post about its axis. By employing such an apparatus, the consumer can be given the same performance as from laundry additives manually inserted during the rinse period of the automatic washer, and at the same time obtain the convenience of not interrupting the normal operation of the automatic washer, the non-handling of the laundry additive itself, and the ease of disposing the container once it has been used. Moreover, such an apparatus is easy to handle, economical to manufacture at a low cost to the consumer, and safe to use.
For the purposes of expediency, the invention can be best explained and described by referring to a preferred embodiment thereof which is the subject matter of the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the scope of the invention is not to be limited thereto.